Ahmed Elmohamady, that trusty old right-back, scored his first club goal for over a year to sendAston Villainto the last eight of the Carabao Cup at the expense of youthful Wolves. Villa dominated and took the lead through Anwar El Ghazi but Patrick Cutrone equalised early in the second half, forcing Villa to find another goal, which Elmohamady delivered less than three minutes later.
So Villa deservedly prevailed in what was a strange encounter: a derby in a soldout stadium with a place in a quarter-final up for grabs but with neither manager moved to field their strongest lineups. Both have more pressing engagements.
Villa made nine alterations to the lineup that started Saturday’s Premier Leaguedefeat at Manchester City while Wolves, contesting their 21 st match of what is becoming an epic season owing to their European commitments, were even more radical.
Theirs was an unashamedly experimental selection , featuring three teenagers making full debuts: the 19 – year-old wing-back Dion Sanderson, the 18 – year-old midfielder Taylor Perry and the forward Chem Campbell who, at 16 years and 304 days, became the second youngest player to start a competitive match for the club (only the fondly remembered winger Jimmy Mullen was more precocious). Three more rookies made debuts off the bench.
Nuno Espírito Santo was unapologetic after the defeat, insisting Wolves will reap the benefits of exposing youngsters to such experiences. “It’s a building process,” he said. “We have always tried to give real competition to the young boys. They are from Wolverhampton, they feel the club, they want to grow and perform. They are good lads and everybody should be proud of them. ”
It took a while for anyone to find fluency. Conor Hourihane, a relative stalwart, provided the first flash of quality, opening up the Wolves defense with a cute pass to Trezeguet. Max Kilman rushed across to block.
Campbell gave a taste of his talent by releasing Sanderson with a wonderful flicked pass. Then the 16 – year -old fired off Wolves’ first shot, a powerful drive wide from 20 yards.
Villa were generally stronger and more wily. Henri Lansbury made exemplary use of possession when he slipped a canny pass between Ryan Bennett and Rúben Vinagre and into the path of El Ghazi, who unloaded a low shot from 15 yards. John Ruddy got a hand to the ball but could not stop it from crossing the line.
There was no sign of a Wolves comeback but they did not stop seeking one. They drew level, practically out of the blue. Douglas Luiz had been quietly authoritative in the heart of midfield until Perry unceremoniously stripped him of the ball near halfway. The teenager fed Cutrone and then accepted a return pass before curling it back towards the Italian from the left-hand corner of the box. Kortney Hause appealed in vain for offside as Cutrone poked the ball past Jed Steer from close range.
Wolves fans had barely finished celebrating when Villa regained the lead. Lansbury pinged a free-kick from the right towards the near post, where Elmohamady got the jump on Bruno Jordão to flick the ball into the net. Wolves nearly delivered an instant reply but this time Steer denied Cutrone.
Smith, satisfied that his team deserved to progress, said Villa are serious about going far. “You enter three competitions at the start of the season and the title probably slipped away from us on Saturday,” he said, wryly. “So we’ve got theCarabao Cupand the FA Cup to fight for. We’ve won this competition five times and we want to try to win it again. ”
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